Pill dispenser



May 11, 1965 A. s. RAIMO PILL DISPENSER Filed Oct. 16, 1961 FIG.|4.

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. INVENTOR Anthony S. Raimo ATTORNEYS. I

United States Patent ice 3,182,694 PILL DISPENSER Anthony S. R'aimo', 89 Mary Ann Lane, Wyckoit, NJ. Filed Oct. 16, 1961, Set. No. 145,143 1 Claim. (Cl. 141-321) This invention is a pill dispenser for dispensing only one or two pills at a time.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a pill dispenser making it diificult, for children especially, to get pills out of the receptacle. It is well known that children will get hold of a bottle of pills and consume too many, sometimes with serious results.

The pill dispenser of this invention requires some manipulation to secure even one pill and even if children understood the procedure, it minimizes the likelihood of children, and even of adults, taking too many pills at once.

More particularly, the present invention comprises the positioning in the neck of the pill bottle, of a resilient barrier member, which, when the cap is removed, prevents the egress of any pills. An important feature of the invention is that the cap for the pill bottle is provided with a downwardly extending pill receiving member, having a pill receiving recess at its lower end. When the cap is in position on the bottle, the pill receiving member, carried by the cap, pushes aside the barrier member and when the bottle is reversed, a pill drops into the pill reciving recess. Then the cap is removed and the resilient barrier member closes and prevents the egress of any more pills. The procedure has to be repeated for each pill, requiring manipulative steps that will discourage children taking too many pills.

In one form of the invention, the barrier member, which is secured in the neck of the bottle, serves to latch into indentations in the pill receiving member, which is carried by the cap, for thereby holding the cap in place on the bottle without the use of screw threads. However, in another form of the invention, a screw threaded connection between the cap and bottle neck may be used.

The invention will be more fully described in connection with the accompanying drawing showing several embodiments of the invention. In this drawing,

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-section of one form of the cap of the present invention, in place on a pill bottle;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the barrier member of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a detached vertical section of the cap of FIG. 1;

.FIG. Sis a vertical cross-section, similar to FIG. 1 of a modification;

FIGS. 6 and 7 are side and plan views of the barrier members of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a vertical section of the cap of FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 is a vertical cross-section similar to FIG. 1, of a modification;

FIGS. 10 and 11 are side and plan views of the barrier member of FIG. 9;

FIG. 12 is a vertical section of the cap of FIG. 9;

FIG. 13 is a vertical section of another form of the invention;

FIG. 14 is a plan view of the barrier member of FIG. 13; and

FIG. 15 is a view of a modification, similar to FIG. 13, using a snap-on type of cap.

Referring now to these drawings in which similar reference characters indicate similar parts, the neck 2 of a pill bottle has a dispensing opening 4 as usual. Secured in the opening 4 is the annular barrier member 6, comprising an upper flanged portion 8 resting on and secured to the upper edge of the bottle neck and comprising resilient, downwardly and inwardly converging 3,182,694 Patented May 1 1, 1965 fingers or segments 10, each terminating in an inwardly extending flange 12.

The cap 14 of the present invention has an outer flange 16 and a centrally positioned downwardly and inwardly extending pill receiving member 18, open at its lower end to provide a pill receiving recess 20.

The pill receiving member 18, near its lower end, is provided with an annular groove or indentation 22 into which latch the several terminal flanges 12 of the barrier member 6." Inasmuch as the barrier 6 is secured to the bottle, the cap 14 is held in place by the barrier member.

Referring to FIGS. 5, 6, 7 and 8, cap 23, carrying a barrier member 24; this barrier member is secured in the bottle neck and comprises resilient, downwardly converging fingers 26 which, although not flanged as in FIG. 1, engage or latch into indentation 28 in the pill receiving tube 30, provided with a pill receiving recess 32 inits lower end.

The groove or indentation 22 in the tube 18, FIG. 1 and the groove or indentation 28 in tube in FIGS. 5 and 8, in addition to providing a latching groove for the resilient fingers 6 FIG. 1 or 26 FIG. 5, also acts as a restriction beyond which a pill cannot pass, and to provide a small recess 20, FIG. 1, or 32, FIGS. 5 and 8, for receiving only a single pill or at most two pills.

Referring to FIGS. 9, 10, l1 and 12, the pill barrier 34 is secured in place at the mouth ofthe receptacle and carries downwardly converging resilient fingers 35 as before. Cap 36 carries a pill receiving member 37 provided at its lower end with a pill receiving recess 38. In this form, the cap is provided with screw threads 40, cooperating with screw threads 42 on the bottle neck.

Referring to FIGS. 13, 14 and 15, the cap 44 is pro vided with a downwardly extending pill receiving mem ber 46 having a pill receiving recess 48 in its lower end. A barrier member 50, in the form of a resilient disc, is secured in the neck of the receptacle. This disc 50 is provided with radial cuts to provide inwardly extending resilient fingers 52.

The form shown in FIG. 15 is generally similar to that shown in FIG. 13, the cap 54 being of the snap-on type, effected by the use of inturned flanges 56 which engage under an annular shoulder 58 on the receptacle.

In the several forms of the invention, the cap, the barrier and the pill receiving receptacle are circular in cross-section.

Operation In all forms of the invention, when the cap is in place, the fingers of the barrier members are pushed aside by the pill receiving members. In order to get one pill, the bottle is reversed, a pill drops into the pill receiving recess in the pill receiving member and the cap is removed. When the cap is removed, the resilient fingers of the barrier member come together, so that no more pills will be released. The above procedure is, of course, repeated as necessary, making it somewhat diificult for a child to get too many pill-s.

While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been described in detail, it should be understood that changes may be made, as falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

I claim as my invention:

A receptacle for dispensing pills and having a delivery opening, a barrier fixed in said delivery opening having downwardly and inwardly converging resilient fingers, and a cap member fitting over the end of the receptacle and provided with a centrally and downwardly open tubular member when the cap member is in closed position, said cap member being indented to form an inwardly extending annular groove above its lower end, said annular groove providing a latching groove for receiving and 3 4 latching the inner ends of said resilient fingers, said :in- 2,886,208 5/59 Sinclair. ardly extending annular groove also providing a restric- 2,957,503 10/60 Stifter 141381 tlon 1n sa d rnenlber so that its lower end W111 only receive FOREIGN PATENTS one or two 131118.

5 1,127,298 12/56 France. References (Zited by theExaminer 384,139 12/ 32 Great Britain.

UNITED STATES PATENTS THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner. 2,317,102 4/43 McKaig 206-635 EARLE J. DRUMMOND, FRANKLIN T. GARRETT,

2,601,852 7/52 Wendt. V Examiners. 

